You are here

About CIMRS

Director's Message:

The OSU/NOAA Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies (CIMRS) represents a strong, long-term, NOAA-university partnership dedicated to research in marine sciences, graduate and public education, and cooperation with regional industries and communities that are dependent on marine resources. CIMRS is the only OSU research institute that provides both grant administration and personnel review in the manner of an academic department.

The research focus of CIMRS addresses living and non-living marine resources and is thus linked to programs that require environmental sampling or observing within the ocean and programs that characterize seafloor habitats. This focus encompasses the broad field of marine fisheries (including fisheries oceanography, habitat research, and ecosystem-based management), geological/chemical oceanography, marine mammal acoustics, and the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems. It thus addresses ecosystem and climate mission goals in NOAA’s 5-year research plan and poises CIMRS research to contribute to NOAA’s 20-year research vision.

The Institute thrives and is a model cooperative institute due to the commitment of leaders from within the laboratories of its NOAA associates and the OSU Research Office and being an integral part of the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center. By its co-location with three regional NOAA laboratories representing two NOAA Line Offices, the Institute is able to bring together research partners from a variety of disciplines to address complex multidisciplinary issues relating to the living and non-living components of the marine environment.

-- Michael Banks, CIMRS Director

Our research projects are organized into the following research themes: (See Our Research page for more details about each theme.)